Twilight shoved the door shut with a loud slam, and bolted it tight, her breath coming in short bursts as she booked it down the long hallway.

The door wouldn't last long.

It had all gone wrong so fast. An unknown illness that overcame ponies horrifyingly quick had almost completely destroyed their populace in under forty eight hours. She was barely able to escape mostly unscathed, already sporting scratches and cuts from her frantic dash for safety. Sadly, the military site she'd been working at wasn't as "secure" as her higher ups had assured her. They'd trusted their guns and soldiers to fix it...yeah, a lot of good that did them when bullets meant nothing to zombies.

She'd been in the upper floors of the base when the alarm was raised, only to be suddenly killed off by the horde of zombies swarming towards the gates; effectively killing the power lines that gave the site it's electricity. In short and quick succession, they'd over run the gate guards and began shattering through the lower levels faster then most ponies could react.

Twilight had been lucky to reach the elevator int time before it disappeared into the depths of the compound. That however was only a short lived breath of comfort, as she heard the elevator defense doors above come crashing down onto the metal box she was traveling in, and about five zombies.

She had waited with bated breath as the machine ground down several floors, before coming to a stop.

She internally gulped.

Floor seven: criminal detainment faculty.

She didn't wait to question if she had clearance, she leaped through the opening doors just as the elevator ceiling crashed down where she'd been standing, covered in zombies. She dodged around corners and down a nearby stair well. She needed an exit and fast.

The hallway was lined with several large cells that were either housed or held criminals of the state. Any of them could do as much harm to her as the abominations(former co-workers) behind her could, so her options were either death by being torn apart and eaten alive, or worse...

In her terror she hadn't been paying attention and tripped over a nearby fallen cart that had lay in the way. Shaking herself she flipped over just in time to see a pair of zombie ponies round the corner. Their legs and barrels having missing flesh and visible ones. Foaming mouths and blank eyes that seemed to stare right through her. She gasped, and they snapped their eyes to her.

This was it, they were two close, and magic had proven just as ineffective to them as bullets or weapons. The zombies lunged, Twilight screamed.

Only to have a hoof come from behind her and yank her by the neck and out of harms way. She saw bars fly past her sides as the zombies turned and looked at her in confusion. She coughed as she hit the floor on her side. A set of loud explosions rang in her ears and bright flashes of red bounced off the momentarily lit walls.

Then silence.

She could hear breathing near her, and it seemed like the darkness of the cell she'd come into wasn't natural. normal shadows has ambient light, these didn't...they sucked all the light from around them...that was rather odd... wait...it moved? Weird glowing veins floated before her in no particular pattern and for a moment she was fascinated by them, poking them with a hoof gently.

"That is my mane you're touching, mare." Twilight's breath hitched in her throat and she whipped around to see a set of red and green eyes seemingly floating among the glowing veins. They watched her with a feeling of pure anger and malice so permeable that it hit her like waves crashing against the shore of a beach. She took a visible step back....

her body began to shake.

"Y-you are...." The shadow moved and coalesced into a physical body before her. towering over Twilight by a good foot and a half, she beheld the stallion of terror itself. Grey fur, a black mane and tail that shrouded the room in perpetual darkness, and a sharpened horn made of blood, bone, and crystal.

Said horn lit up, bathing her in neon crimson light, making his visage even more terrifying.

"I am King Sombra, yes. it is nice to know I am still remembered by the above dwellers...." He stepped up to her, leaning forward he neither grimaced nor grinned, simply watched her for a time before sitting.

"...Normally you state your name as well, unless customs are different, I would not know." twilight nodded but couldn't find herself to speak. Out of all the cells she could have chosen, she had to get pulled into one with a being far older, wiser, and stronger then her by millennial.

of course she did, fate hated her.

"T-twilight sparkle...my name is--"

"I Know who you are, child." twilight mentally twitched.

"T-then why did you ask?!" Sombra let the hint of a smile grace his lips as he looked past her and out the bars.

"Etiquette."

She went to retort but found something far more important coming to the forefront of her mind.

Sombra's horn was glowing, meaning he was doing magic. That couldn't be possible if he was still in his cell though. The bars were magically enchanted to react if he tried and restrain him.

She looked back at the bars. and noted that the zombies were not gone.

They were splattered all over the place.

"W-what did you do to them?" Sombra finally lost his stoic mask and grinned a shark like smile and stepped up next to her, his voice like a snake near her ear.

"Simple, I took their innards, and made them outtards. In laymen terms, I blew them up from the inside out." He chuckled when she gagged and shivered.

"Your horrible..."

"Am I? I hadn't noticed. I was paying more attention to the fact that I saved your life and so far have not hurt you at all. Normally anyone who trespasses an inch within my cell gets bitten..." he leaned in and let his breath brush her ear tips,

"and I like to bite mares...a lot..." Twilight shot towards the bars and tried to squeeze past them in an attempt to escape. She was surprised to see that Sombra neither stopped her nor tried to hurt her in any way.

he was too busy laughing harshly to do so anyhow.

"AHAHA! I like you Twilight, you've got guts. Not something I can say for them." he said pointing at the visceral content she was standing in now. She scowled and growled at him.

"Uugh, your despicable Sombra! these ponies were my friends!" He grinned looking at a hoof.

" Oh I know, but I'm curious, why are you friends with dead ponies? Or them?" He pointed down the hall and Twilight shrieked when she saw three more zombies barreling towards her.

"My doors are open if you need help, all you have to is say 'pretty please'." Twilight dove passed the bars and landed smack dab into his chest.

"Kill em!" she shrieked in fright. Sombra grinned and angled his horn at the creatures marring his door step.

"That's close enough!"

Three loud explosions later and the pair were once again alone. twilight sighed and rest her head against the stallion's chest fur, grumbling.

Until she realized what she was doing, and lunged backwards. Sombra snorted.

"Jumpy, aren't you? you act like I was going to do something to you." Twilight growled.

"You are the stallion of horror, I wouldn't put it past you to try!" Sombra leveled a glare at her, effectively shutting her up.

"First off lets get one thing straight girl. I just saved your life, again. I did not have to do that. I could have laughed as they ripped you to shreds, then blown them up, and then reanimated your flesh and rebuilt you just to do it all again...don't spit on my kindness by insulting me the moment I help you."

He was almost snarling by the time he finished, and twilight was lowering herself to the floor with fright.

"Secondly, You need to set your priorities straight right now. am I more of a problem then those zombies, cause I can honestly tell you right now I have no intentions if killing you or harming you filly...." Twilight watched as he walked up and sat in front of her, frowning as more zombies round the corner to his cell.

twilight felt his magic aura pull her close to him again as he leveled his horn again, his voice but a calm wave before the storm as he channeled his dark magic.

"Ask your self this, Twilight. What is the greater evil now?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Couldn't sleep, doodle turned into something far more than I thought. Kind of an AU idea that had been running through my head for a few days now. In this AU, twilight worked for the government as a magic scientist for defensive magics and weaponry.

long story short somepony dropped a vial of weapon Z and shit hit the fan.

1. sadly no. I never really had a full blown story idea planned for this, just a simple idea.

2. they are impervious to most types of it. if you cut off the head, they die. if you freeze them completely from head to toe, they will die. burning them would depend on how much you do it. sombra killed them by blowing them apart from the inside out. dark magic brought the zombies to life, i.e dark magic can also counteract it.

Well, it's a shame the story won't continue. Something I don't like about when people do 1-offs like this is they always have some intriguing concepts that seem like they could go anywhere in your imagination, and then you're left with that feeling of wonderment and endless possibility. I'm not saying it's wrong; I'm just saying, man, I wish I had more. Like when you watch the ending of the Super Mario Bros movie and then the sequel never comes out.

Wait wait wait ... how could bullets be ineffective on zombie ponies, exactly?

Aren't they vulnerable to physical damage? In that case, there would "just" be a need for enough bullets to basically shred them, or blow or take their head off, aye?

Besides, magic, having the same effect as a, say, explosive bullet, as Sombra demonstrated,wouldn't the magic-wielding personnels of the base be able to fend the zombies off?

Oh, of course, Sombra saved her bacon, but he shouldn't expect that this alone would completely erase his criminal records,or make Twilight completely friendly with him. No matter how helpful he proved himself, he's still a criminal, after all.

:icontwilightsparkleisseriousplz:And when this ordeal ends, what will you do, Sombra? Will you still demonstrate honest care and goodwill ... or will you turn back to the old ways that drove you here?

This is a really creative idea. Putting Twilight between two dangers, one that was powerful enough to take over an empire almost twice with a possible grudge against her (assuming events with Sombra are similar to the show) and the other great in numbers chasing after her to rip her to shreds. I loved every moment of it.

When the shit hits the fan, sometimes desperate times forces one to make a desperate call and in this case, reluctantly side with somepony more deadly than the zeds. Brings a whole new meaning to fear the living XD

I favorite this so hard I break the favorite button and this an awesome, artistic comeback for Sombra too!

Twilight is going to learn a lesson or two about magic.This she will learn quickly.The enemy of my enemy is my friend.Art of War.That is the one thing I have seen lacking in the Equestria world.A balance. There cannot always be just good. There has to evil. It all balances out when you accept that fact. Nice story. Great art to back it up.